Admitting seniors who have some form of cognitive impairment could expose skilled nursing facilities to more resident falls during their stay, according to a new study.
A University of Texas-led research team found that seniors experiencing a decline in their brain function are more likely to experience a fall in a SNF compared to residents who were cognitively unimpaired.
Residents with mild, moderate and severe cognitive impairment were associated with 1.72%, 2.72% and 2.61% higher odds, respectively, of experiencing a fall during a SNF stay.
“[Activities of daily living] limitations and impaired balance are risk factors for falls but may not contribute to the increased fall risk for SNF residents with cognitive impairment,” concluded authors Brian Downer, Ph.D., Huey-Ming Tzeng, Ph.D., RN, Allen Haas and Kenneth J. Ottenbacher, Ph.D.
The study included Medicare data from more than 815,000 short-stay nursing home residents admitted into a SNF within three days of a hospital discharge between Oct. 1, 2016 and Sept. 30, 2017.
Full findings were published online Monday in the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
